Feed drum for snap fastener setters



April 18, 1939.

J GUALTIERE 2,154,899

FEED DRUM FOR SNAP FASTENER SETTERS Original Filed May 16, 1954 3 Shets-Sheet 2 ZZZ . ""HHI INVENTPR Lfzl/zzzw fizzalzzere Mil M M 1AA ATTORNEYS April 18,1939.

J. GUAL TIERE FEED DRUM FOR SNAP FASTENER SETTERS Original Filed May 16. 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR JZZZZ uJ'fizzalzzrw BY Q@- M%&v A

JAN) ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 18, 1 939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Original application May 16, 1934, Serial No.

725,888. Divided and this application January 27, 1936, Serial No. 60,994

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to drums for feeding elements of snap fasteners in a snap fastener setting machine and comprises a division of Gualtiere application Serial No. 725,888, filed May 16, 1934, now Patent No. 2,061,193, granted November 1'7, 1936.

Snap fasteners usually comprise two members, namely, a snap socket which passes through the material and a cap on the other side of the material into which the socket is expanded to anchor the cap in place and to hold the socket securely riveted in place in the material. Snap fasteners of this kind are common as glove snaps and as many other articles of commerce.

Heretofore in the art, it has been customary to feed the parts by hand to a rivet setter which was adapted to apply pressure to expand the socket within the cap and hold the parts securely locked in place.

The present invention comprises feed drums for an automatic machine which for each operation of the machine automatically feeds a socket member and a fastener cap and then applies pressure to expand the fastener within the cap. The cycle of operations of the machine is such that a socket is positioned at the work anvil. The goods, having an opening perforated therein to receive the stem of the fastener, is slipped over the socket and the machine is then operated. The operation of the machine feeds a cap over the portion of the socket extending through the goods, and applies pressure to expand the stem of the socket within the cap. It, therefore, will be seen that each operation of the machine results in a completed fastener comprising a socket and a cap being automatically applied to the goods.

The feed drums of the machine comprise novel constructions for feeding both the caps and the sockets. The sockets are small hollow stemmed tubular members shaped somewhat like a head gear known as a stove pipe hat. The feed mechanism for the sockets comprises a feed drum and a feed ring spaced slightly from the face of the drum, so that the socket members leave the feed drum with the stems passing through exit slots in the feed ring. The stems of the sockets extend inwardly toward the machine. This is the opposite position usually provided for feeding articles of this shape and the reversal of the feed position is due to the novel feed ring spaced from the face of the feed drum.

The caps comprise hollow members being rounded or oval on one side and provided with an opening on the other side. The feed passageways provided in the edge of the feed drum for the caps are constructed with conical projections located in the central part of each feed passageway. The facing adjacent the cap feed drum is provided with an annular groove opposite the path of the said projections. A cap falling into a passageway with the back of the cap toward the outer face of the feed drum will be blocked from going through the passageway by the conical projection, but any cap falling into a passageway with the back of the cap toward the facing will slide downward through the passageway and the conical projection will pass into the opening in the cap and gravity will cause the cap to slide over the face of the conical projection and out into a feed channel. This arrangement permits the feed of the caps in such manner that all of the tops of the caps face in one direction in the cap runway so that the caps come right side up into proper place for further operations.

It is realized that the invention may be practiced by constructions other than those specifically illustrated herewith, so, therefore, the specific disclosure herewith is to be understood as illustrative and not in the limiting sense.

Fig. 1 is a view showing a side elevation of the machine with certain portions broken away to illustrate interior constructions.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational View showing certain parts in section.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the rim and attached ring of the socket feeding drum.

Fig. 4 is a detail View of a portion of the face in the socket feeding drum on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an elevational edge view of the feed ring adapted to be attached to the feed drum illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 and showing a portion of the ring broken away.

Fig. 6 is a front View of the face of the ring shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a detail View illustratinga portion of the rotating feed drum for feeding the caps.

Fig. 8 is a front face view of the feed drum shown in Fig, 6.

Referring to the drawings and more especially to Fig. 1, a pedestal frame I carries an electric motor 2 which is the driving unit for the device. An operating pedal t is pivoted in the base of the pedestal frame and is normally held in raised position by a coil spring 5 anchored at one end to the pedestal frame and at the other end to the pedal. An adjustable stop 6 limits the upward movement of the pedal. A head frame 1 is securely mounted on the pedestal frame I and is the main support for the operating mechanism. The electric motor 2 is connected by a belt 8 with a weighted drive pulley 9 to rotate the pulley in the direction of the arrow A (Fig. 1). A clutch link I0 extends from the pedal 4 to the clutch mechanism whereby the operator upon depressing the pedal 4 causes the clutch mechanism to engage the driving pulley 9 with the operating mechanism.

The upper part of the head frame I carries a pair of feed drums. One of these feed drums feeds the socket members in a proper upright position and the other of the feed drums feeds the cap members properly positioned. Socket feed drum 62 (Fig. 2) feeds the socket members. The socket members are fed into this feed drum from a feed hopper 64. This drum 52 is removably mounted upon a socket drum shaft and is intermittently rotated by a ratchet 66 which is fixedly mounted on the shaft as is well known in the art. This ratchet is intermittently operated by a thrust dog 6'! (Fig. 2). This thrust dog 6'! is mounted on an arm 68 fixedly secured to oscillate with a short shaft to which the main lever 31 is anchored by an anchor stud,.s0 that each time the main lever 31 is oscillated, the thrust dog 67 engages and pushes forward the notches of the ratchet 60, as is shown in my Patent No. 2,061,193, November 17, 1936. As the feed drum 62 is intermittently rotated, socket members within this feed drum are tumbled about and tend to slide toward the face of the drum.

In order that the socket members may be properly positioned for further operations, it is necessary that the stems of the socket members shall be fed in an outward position relative to the rim of the drum 62. This desirable and necessary operation is accomplished by the utilization of an auxiliary member comprising a ring (Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6) mounted upon the face edge of the drum 62. The face of the drum 62 is provided with guide grooves I0. These guide grooves lead to escape exits ll for the socket members. These escape exits are in the separate ring 12 which is detachably mounted upon the face edge of the feed drum 52' by means of machine screws 80 which extend through the openings BI in sharing E2. The ring I2 is also positioned on the feed drum 62 by means of dowel pins 82 that are carried by the ring i2 and extend into openings 83 in the feed drum 62. By this construction, it will be observed that the socket members 14 can only escape from the feed drum 62 with the stems of the socket members extending toward the central axis of the machine frame. The socket members, after escaping from the drum 62, slide down a runway "i5 (Figs. 1 and 2).

The feed mechanism for the cap comprises a cap feed drum Ill (Figs. 1 and 2) which isremovably mounted on a drum shaft H2 that rotates in a bearing H4 in the head frame I. The inner end of this shaft I I2 carries a'feed ratchet II5 which is engaged by a pull ratchet pawl II6. This ratchet pawl H5 is mounted on an arm II'I fixedly secured to the shaft for the main lever 31. As the main lever 3'! oscillates, the arm I I I swings to cause the ratchet awl IIB to engage the ratchet I I 5 and rotate the drum shaft I I 2 step by step. The rotation of the drum shaft causes caps fed into the drum III by the hopper II8 to be tumbled about in the cap feed drum III. The feeding edge of this drum III (Figs. '7 and 8) is provided with exit pathways II9. In the center of each pathway H9 is a conical projection I20 comprising the head of a stud set in the edge of the drum. A groove I2I is provided in the facing I22 opposite the path of the conical heads I20. Baffie plates I24 are also provided within the body of the drum III to loosen up the mass of caps within the drum as the drum rotates. These caps I25 are oval on the top and are provided with an opening on the opposite side. The studs I20 present obstacles tothe escape of caps having the tops thereof in contact with the: studs, but permit caps having the open sides toward the studs to slide over the studs into the groove I20 and then slide off the studs into the feed groove I26.

As the machine operates, a cap resting in the cup I35 is directly over a socket on the holding pin 5| in the path of the descending setting head 48. The downward movement of the setting head 48 carries the cup bar I38 downward against the action of the coil spring I39until the movement of the cup bar I38 is stopped'by a stop I40. The continued descent of the plunger 48 causes the spring arms of the cup I 35 to swing outwardly (Fig. 2) to release the cap when it is in position directly over the end of the socket on the socket pin 5I. The continued movement of the setting head 48 applies pressure to the positioned cap, thereby expanding the upper end of the socket member within the cap and locking the same in position therein so that the socket I4 is securely locked within the cap I25 which is tightly seated against the material I4I, thereby completing the operating cycle of the machine.

It will be observed that in the operation of the machine, a socket is fed from one side of the machine to arrive at the anvil in an upright position where it is held by the socket pin in the center of the anvil, and that a cap is fed from the other side of the machine in an upright position with the opening of the cap downward sothat the cap is set down upon the upper end of the socket and the plunger continues its downward descent to apply pressure to crush or flatten the upper end of the socket and expand the same within the cap, thereby locking the parts together.

Having described my invention, I claim:

In a machine of the class described, a socket feeding device comprising a socket drum adapted to receive and tumble a mass of sockets, means to intermittently rotate said drum upon a substantially horizontal axis, a feed rim on said drum provided with guide grooves for flanges of said sockets, a feed ring detachably mounted on the face of said feed rim, said feed ring having passageways therein for the stems of sockets and wider passageways for the flanges of sockets, said wider passageways being aligned with the guide grooves, and constructed and arranged to permit sockets to escape from the feed drum with the stems thereof extending away from the face of said feed rim.

JULIUS GUALTIERE. 

